Kindle, Amazon's e-book reader, is hot, but how does it handle?

By Allen Pierleoni - apierleoni@sacbee.com

Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Story appeared in SCENE section, Page E2

Print | E-Mail | | |

Continued from previous page

What does it do?

As Amazon CEO Bezos writes in his electronic "welcome" letter on the Kindle, the device is all about reading. Going through the Kindle Store, the user can choose from 116,498 books in 24 categories (the Kindle launched with 90,000 titles); 16 newspapers (including some from France, Germany and Britain, but not The Bee); 11 magazines (including Newsweek, Fortune and Slate); and 325 blogs in 10 categories, ranging from science and sports to lifestyle and travel.

Users can sample the first chapter of a book for free, as well as get two-week free trials of newspapers, magazines and blogs. The Kindle can hold up to 200 non-illustrated books and includes the New Oxford American Dictionary, in case you need a definition.

How much does it cost to download material?

New York Times best-sellers and other new book releases are $9.99, but prices vary depending on the title. Monthly costs for blogs range from 99 cents to $1.99; magazines, $1.25 to $3.49; and newspapers, $5.99 to $14.99.

How many Kindles have been sold?

While Amazon.com has stated that its Kindle supply cannot keep up with demand, the company does not release sales figures, the number of e-books downloaded by the Kindle community or even where the device is manufactured. Best-guessers think about 2,000 units have sold so far, with an ongoing back-order list.

* * *

There were more questions, so I phoned Amazon.com public- relations manager Heather Huntoon. My first question was really a complaint: The Kindle reading screen is not backlit, and it's too easy to accidentally hit a wrong button when holding the machine. Will the next-generation Kindle address these issues?

"Anything is possible," she said. "We're focused on listening to our customers' feedback."

Do you have a profile of the Kindle user?

"No, but we know they like to read." Can I download games, crossword puzzles and Sudoku?

"No."

Are textbooks available?

"They are not, but our goal is to have every book ever published available on Kindle."

What about copyrights?

"Publishers must own the e-rights to books to get them on Kindle."

* * *

What do other industry people have to say? The book industry has been buzzing since the Kindle's introduction, of course, and no one knows the biz better than Sara Nelson. She's the editor of Publishers Weekly magazine, the bible of the book business, and has has written two columns about her Kindle. I phoned her, too.

What's to like about the Kindle?

"I love the wireless download, but I lost my Kindle and have been using a Sony Reader," she said. "I must say, its (download process) is a pain in the neck."

Does the Reader have any advantage over the Kindle?

"To me, the Reader is physically and aesthetically more appealing and somewhat easier to manipulate, though I think they both need a Generation 2. You tend to hit the 'Turn Page' bar by accident on the Kindle, but there's another problem on the Sony Reader: If you stop reading and it sits idle too long, it goes into a sleep mode (so does the Kindle), and it's not always that easy to get back to the place you left off. The Kindle takes you right back."

Are e-readers any threat to the book industry?

"No more than audiobooks were once perceived to be. Publishers see (e-readers and e-books) as an opportunity to expand their readerships. I don't think anybody sees (e-books) as a negative, but everybody's taking a wait-and-see attitude. There's been a lot written about (e-readers), but (e-books) are still a tiny percentage of (comparable) sales.

"Both the Kindle and the Sony Reader are supplements to my (professional life). At this point, they are of most use to people in the book industry and related industries – to people who travel a lot with a lot of books. I'm about to go to the London book fair, and while I will always carry 'real books' with me, I have my e-reader loaded with stuff because it's a lot easier to carry."

* * *

Major book chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble have stakes in the e-book "revolution." What's their take?

Continue reading on next page

Return to previous page

About the writer:

Call The Bee's Allen Pierleoni, (916) 321-1128.

Recommend this story at Yahoo! Buzz:

What separates the Kindle from other devices that enable users to download books, magazines, newspapers and blogs is the speed at which the material is downloaded. Florence Low / flow@sacbee.com

Click on photo to enlarge

The Sacramento Bee Unique content, exceptional value. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

More Stories in Lifestyle/Scene

Subscribe to RSS feed for Lifestyle/Scene

READING BETWEEN THE LINES WITH KINDLE
Kindle's pros
• E-books are cheaper than real books. Best-sellers and other new titles are $10, compared with $25 at a bookstore.
• You don't have to drive to a book- store or library to buy or borrow books.
• You don't have to clutter up your house with real books or find a home for them in a bookcase.
• You needn't hassle with packing real books to take on trips.
• You can "flip" through magazines and newspapers less awkwardly than with the real things.
• You can get free two-week trial subscriptions to newspapers, magazines and blogs, and free first chapters of books.

Kindle's cons
• All photos and graphics are small and in black and white; there is no color.
• The screen is not back-lit, so forget about reading in darkened areas.
• You miss out on opportunities to visit bookstores and libraries.
• You can't pass along a great read to a friend or give someone a book as a gift (well, you could, but not via a Kindle).
• There are so many options embedded in the Kindle that the choices become confusing to the technology-challenged.
• Inevitably, the second- generation model will be more efficient and cost less.
– Allen Pierleoni

IT'S COOL -- BUT IT'S NOT FOR EVERYBODY
Let's make this quick: Is the Amazon Kindle really that cool? Yes, it is. The e-book reader holds books, newspapers, magazines and blogs, which can be downloaded instantly. At the least, it's a conversation starter; at the most, it is affordable technology that's possibly on the cusp of cultural revolution.
But after test-driving a borrowed machine for two weeks, would I spend $400 on one for myself? No, I wouldn't.
Why not? Well, it's not the Kindle – it's me. For one thing, I was nervous about dropping it. For another, the machine was awkward to hold, and I kept inadvertently hitting buttons and bars.
And there was this: Though the text was crystal-clear (and the font extremely readable), the screen couldn't accommodate enough of it to fit my reading style. I was forever hitting the "Next Page" bar. That problem compounds when the type size is increased. (There are six options.) Obviously, the bigger the type size, the fewer words the screen can handle. Which is a good thing for those with tired eyes.
– Allen Pierleoni